1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for display of at least one medical finding.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In medical diagnostics, in particular imaging diagnostics, it is frequently necessary to process and to evaluate a large number of image data to create a finding. For example, it is possible to map the majority of the body of a patient by means of magnetic resonance tomography. For this purpose, generally several thousands of slices, from the head to the feet of the patient, are acquired by means of a magnetic resonance apparatus. Alternatively, within a partial body examination an overview can initially be created, followed by detailed examinations of specific regions (for example the brain, the upper body or the abdomen). For example, for cancer patients this technique allows a determination as to whether metastases have formed in the body. For this purpose, it is necessary for a doctor or radiologist to proceed through the data of the partial body examination slice-by-slice and, if applicable, to create a finding. To assess extensive examinations, it is often necessary to view findings originating from other examinations so as to take them into account in the finding. Under the circumstances, the doctor must review a large amount of data.
To make this easier for the doctor, it is known to list findings within a text protocol. This type of finding review is, however, is unwieldy for the treating doctor or radiologist since he or she does not have direct access to the associated image data from the text protocol. Such image data must be manually sought out from a databank in which they are archived. In particular, the individual images must be manually associated with various regions in the human body, for example head, upper body or back region. It may also be necessary to link measurement data from other examination methods (for example ultrasound or computed tomography) with the same body region, which increases the effort for the doctor.
A device that allows findings to be marked in a schematic representation of a human body is known from US 2004/0078215 A1. A user can have details of body regions displayed. Further findings can be added to the representation via the device. However, it is still necessary for the user to search manually for the image data belonging to the respective finding from the database by hand.